Bangalore's Spatial Gathering

Redressing Geopolitics

This edition of GeoBLR is very special – we will feature Francesca Recchia, long time friend and writer, to talk about her work in parts of the world that are in conflict.

Over the past ten years, Francesca Recchia has mostly lived and worked in countries in conflict – among others, Palestine, Iraqi Kurdistan and now Afghanistan. She is interested in the ways in which people imagine the space they live in, the challenges they face, the world around them and the possibility of the future in contexts where life seems to be reduced to mere survival.

In her talk, she connects examples from daily life in places at war with the images and imaginations that come from geopolitical analysis and the media. With this, she hopes to open a conversation around definitions of geopolitics and representation.

Francesca Recchia is an independent researcher and writer who has worked and taught in different parts of the world, including India, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine. She is interested in the geopolitical dimension of cultural processes and in recent years has focused her research on urban transformations and creative practices in countries in conflict. She was the director of the 4th Afghanistan Contemporary Art Prize and is the author of three books The Little Book of Kabul (with Lorenzo Tugnoli), Picnic in a Minefield and Devices for Political Action (with a photo-essay by Leo Novel). Francesca tweets @kiccovich.

GeoBLR, started in 2013, is a monthly gathering around mapping, spatial technology, and data.

Working closely with the DataMeet community, GeoBLR engages individuals, organisations and the government in conversations around spatial data problems. The idea of openness is at the center of GeoBLR. Since the inception, GeoBLR has organised thirteen meetups around an array of topics like PIN codes, OpenStreetMap, as well as conversation with field experts. In 2015, GeoBLR aims to further strengthen the OpenStreetMap community in the city.